In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

According to preliminary estimates, the share of official development assistance (ODA) in GNI rose from 0.28 in 2007 to 0.30 in 2008, but falls below the 0.33 level reached in 2005. ODA in 2005 was boosted by the exceptional debt-relief initiatives for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC). Donors will need to increase programmable aid (which excludes debt relief) in order to meet the 2010 aid target to increase total aid by $50 billion overall and aid to Sub-Saharan Africa by $25 billion a year (in 2004 dollars). The HIPC Initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) have drastically decreased the debt burdens of many low-income countries, but maintaining long-term debt sustainability will be difficult. Mobile phone subscriptions have more than doubled in low- and middle-income countries, but large gaps remain for improving access to technologies such as broadband Internet. Substantial infrastructure investments by the private sector will facilitate the growth of information and communications infrastructure and access to mobile phone technology.

In 2005, G-8 leaders at the Gleneagles Summit agreed to increase the annual aid allocations to developing countries by an additional $50 billion by 2010, compared with 2004. From 2005 to 2007, the ratio of ODA to gross national income for DAC donors fell from 0.33 to 0.28, but the ratio must be 0.35 in 2010 to meet the target. The total net ODA from DAC donors increased from 1990 to 2005, but has declined since then; aid in 2005 was high because of the one-time debt relief to Nigeria and Iraq.

The ODA-to-GNI ratio for landlocked developing countries has fluctuated between 5 and 9 from 1990 to 2007 but has not changed much over the period. The ratio has decreased for small island states from 1990 to 2007.

Debt relief under the HIPC Initiative reduced burdens of external debt service for 34 post-decision-point highly indebted poor countries. Assistance under the MDRI Initiative further reduced the external debt of 23 post-completion-point counties. High commodity prices and strong growth in the world economy before the onset of the global financial crisis have improved export revenues of many developing countries. The debt-service-to-export ratios for all developing country groups shown in the figure have declined since 1990, with low-income countries and HIPCs enjoying the largest declines.

The average tariffs imposed by industrial countries on least developed countries' (LDC) agricultural, textile, and clothing products have fallen from 1996 to 2006. Tariffs on agricultural products have decreased only slightly. Tariffs on clothing products have been the highest, and the rates of reduction the largest. Although these reductions eroded the preferential access to high-income markets that some LDCs had previously exclusively enjoyed, the overall reduction of tariffs benefit production and exporting sectors of all LDCs.

Compared with telephone mainlines, the number of mobile phone subscribers and Internet users has rapidly increased in low- and middle- income countries, although the levels remain much lower than those of high-income countries. Between 2004 and 2007, mobile phone subscribers increased from 3.7 to 23.1 per 100 people in low-income countries and 22.2 to 46.9 per 100 people in middle-income countries.